


Calendar Date

by elletromil



Series: Texting with a dead man [8]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Loss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 19:38:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9008158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elletromil/pseuds/elletromil
Summary: Percival doesn't need to look at the date that morning to know exactly what day it is and he's very tempted to go back to sleep and just forget about the rest of the world.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LiProuvaire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiProuvaire/gifts), [BouncyBrittonie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BouncyBrittonie/gifts), [InsaneRedDragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneRedDragon/gifts).



> So this is a very more angsty installment in the texting with a dead man verse, that has to do with James' death anniversary. I would understand why you might want to skip it, since I cried myself when writing it, because yes this is the kind of person I am, crying at my own stuff.
> 
> Still, I had the need to write it, because even if Percy is happy now, I didn't want to make it like he had forgotten about James, a man he had been ready to ask in marriage in this verse.
> 
> I also made a reference to my own reel fic I will be posting tomorrow, just because I can, so yeah.
> 
> I'll just leave you to your reading :)

“Do you think Tristan can pull the France mission off?” Eggsy blinks slowly at the question, his mind a bit numb from all the paperwork he’s been catching up on in Harry’s office.

“I don’t see why not,” he might be a bit biased since Tristan was his own proposal, but Claudia hasn’t become a Knight for nothing. “Wasn’t it supposed to be Roxy’s mission though?” He’s the first to admit he loses tracks during meetings sometimes when it doesn’t concern him directly, but he could have sworn Roxy was the one being dispatched to France.

“Well yes, and I have no doubt she would do it brilliantly, but considering what date Friday is and that Richard has just come back from his latest assignment, I thought they would rather spend the day together if at all possible.”

It takes a moment before Eggsy understands what Harry is talking about but when he does, he’s not ashamed to get all teared up. “Oh,” the sound is breathed out, nearly lost under the little squeak of his chair sliding on the floor too fast and he’s around the desk and sitting on Harry’s lap before he realises this is what he wanted to do. “You’re a good man Harry Hart, I don’t think you get told enough.”

Harry shrugs, but unlike usual, he doesn’t try to protest, but maybe it’s simply because Eggsy’s lips gently pressing on the scar on his forehead distracts him from words.

“Is there anything you think we should be doing?” He asks after a moment, distractingly leaving kisses in Eggsy’s hair after the boy decided to hide his face in the crook of his neck.

It’s Eggsy’s turn to shrugs, but he still answers, breath teasing at the sensible skin behind his ear.

“Just be there if he needs us I think. And maybe get one of those bottle of James’ favourite?”

That all sounds very sensible and Harry should have thought of it himself, but he’s the first one to admit that he’s rubbish at relationship and he’s only ever had to help Merlin through the grief of losing an agent before.

He has no idea at all what he’s supposed to do on James’ death anniversary, the man Richard had once had dreamed of being married to.

He still has the ring box in a drawer in his office and of course Harry loves Richard just as dearly as he loves Eggsy, but it is precisely why he won’t ever be jealous of what Richard had with James. It is precisely why he knows that if he had the power to bring back someone from the dead, it would be the previous Lancelot.

But since it isn’t something he can do, he’ll do whatever it is to comfort his lover on this day.

*

When he wakes up, Richard doesn’t need to look at the date on his phone to know what today is and he considers briefly staying in bed all day and not facing the world. The only thing that decides him against it are the plans he’s made with his daughter.

He goes through his morning routine slowly and cannot shake the feeling that being back to his flat isn’t _right_ anymore. It’s not _wrong_ either, but he’s gotten used to bump into Eggsy at every turn and to stop a few times while dressing up to poke Harry back awake.

It’s been awhile since he’s spend a night in his own bed even if he still has his own flat unlike Eggsy. Unlike the young man, he hasn’t been able to give it up yet, even if he’s more likely to be at Harry’s anytime he’s in London. Not that his lovers have asked him to, it’s his money to do what he wants with, and there are memories within these walls he simply cannot give up on just yet.

Memories of his mornings with James, the man even lazier than Harry, not getting out of bed for anything other than the promise of breakfast. Even Roxy jumping into bed would only wake him up enough to trap her under his arm, cuddling their giggling little girl until they were both slumbering again.

It is the reason Richard’s first stop is always to the kitchen after dressing up, is first action of the day being to get breakfast ready. Years upon years of habit, of having to bring coffee to James to tempt him out of bed. Years upon years of never really minding his self-appointed chore, if only because whenever James would join him in the kitchen, he would drape himself over his back like a blanket, sleepily following him around until the food was ready.

It is the reason he doesn’t make breakfast today, the mere thought of opening his cupboards nauseating. The reason he is just standing by the sink when he hears the small knock on his front door and a key turning into the lock. He knows it can only be Roxy, because only three persons have the key and Harry never comes around and when Eggsy does, he never bother knocking before letting himself in. It’s not long before she joins him, a box of donuts in hands and he chuckles softly before taking one.

They’re another memory those donuts, but one that is far less painful, one of coming home from missions to boxes over boxes of them littering the table, of rolling his eyes and telling James and Roxy not to start complaining when they would inevitably get fat from their horrible diet whenever he wasn’t around to make sure they ingested anything other than sugar.

They eat them in silence, leaning against the counter as much as they are leaning against each other, both missing James immensely, but it doesn’t feel so much like this agonizing hole in their life anymore.

Richard thinks James would have been happy to know it.

*

Richard lets Roxy walk up ahead when they get to the cemetery, watches her sit down in front of the tombstone as she calls out a soft _hello Papa_ and put some trinket in front of the the stone.

“So I found that in Cairo on my last mission and I don’t know if it’s worth anything but it looks so much like that key thing in the Mummy that I knew you’d get a kick out of it.” The movie had been a favourite in their household, James always claiming he would make an even more dashing Rick O’Connell. Richard had always shot his dreams down by telling him he was more of a Jonathan really. “We could have spent our next vacation mummy hunting!”

“I thought we had agreed that raising mummies from the dead was a poor idea,” Richard sights, finally coming to stand behind his daughter.

“And we wouldn’t even need medjai, Dad would be our very own Ardeth Bay!” She throws her head back to grin at him, her teasing smile exactly like James’ had been. It used to have him on the verge of tears, but today, today he only smiles back and ruffles her hair, letting her lean his back against his legs as she continues talking about whatever comes to her mind.

He doesn’t say much himself, but he’s always been more of the silent type anyway. Unlike the last time he came here however, this time he chuckles openly and doesn’t feel uneasy when Roxy mentions half-seriously how weird it is to have one stepfather the same age as her but how having the other one be Arthur definitely has its perks.

He’s not sure how long they stay there, catching James up on what has been happening in their life, but the sun is starting to set on the horizon when Roxy finally stands up after kissing her fingers and pressing them on the stone.

She gives him a quick hug, but doesn’t wait for him before starting to walk back toward the entrance of the cemetery, having figured out he needs a moment alone without Richard having to tell her.

It’s his turn to kneel on the ground, his forehead coming to rest upon the cold gravestone.

“I love you. I miss you. But I think I am happy again.” The stone is wet even though it hasn’t rained all day and Richard closes his eyes hard, taking shaky breaths. Bracing breaths.

With his hand, he digs a little, making a hole just big enough to hold the box he carried with him today. Before he places it in the ground however, he opens it one last time and thumbs the plain silver ring it contains for one last time.

“This is yours and I should have given it to you much earlier.” But he didn’t and if there is one regret he’ll forever carry with him, it’s this one.

*

It’s a bit late when he gets back at Harry’s, back _home_ , because this is what his house have become, this is what being with Harry and Eggsy _is_. He’s went to have dinner with Roxy and neither of them were quite ready to let the day end, no matter how painful it was at the same time.

It’s late and yet, Harry and Eggsy are both waiting for him, the younger man gently leading him to the couch where he sits down gratefully, accepting the glass of whiskey Harry offers him without a word.

The taste is familiar even if it’s not his own favourite, but it’s exactly what he needed, the alcohol helping wind down as much as the presence of his two lovers on each side of him. They don’t do anything to break the silence and they aren’t quite so close as to be touching him, but they’re here and Richard can feel tears rolling down his cheeks, but he doesn’t care. Harry and Eggsy don’t either, just let him lie down, his head in Eggsy's lap and his feet on Harry’s.

It’s how he falls asleep and how he wakes up the next morning, his heart full of love for the men currently in his life. They’ll never replace James, but that’s okay, they don’t need to. They don’t even want to.

What they have between the three of them will never be perfect, but nothing ever is. Not his relationship with James, not the one he could have had with only Eggsy, not what they share now.

But Richard has never needed perfection.

Quietly, he gets up, careful not to wake them up, and goes to make breakfast.


End file.
